A stroll in the loop

With the weather being so gorgeous that past couple of weeks I decided it was time to get out of Hyde Park for a day and take in the sun. My adventure took me downtown to the loop where I thought I'd go to observe the people and get some ice cream. After browsing a couple stores and getting a bite to eat, I decided to strike up a conversation with a few of the street performers I'd walked past. 

The first performer I talked to was playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz on a saxophone. Never having heard the song outside of the context of the musical, I was intrigued. When the song was over I asked him why he'd chosen that song to play, especially on such a sunny day without a rainbow in sight. He said it was one of his favourites because it was a song of hope. Later in the conversation I remarked that I'd found his performance particularly striking because further down the street I'd heard one of the light fronds playing Girl from Ipanema. He told me that that's the kind of thing you get in a place like Chicago and it was one of the reasons he liked living here so much. I decided to ask him a little about his background. He said he was self-taught when he was younger and that he's been playing for years. When he was a kid he wanted to become a professional musician but it can be a hard business to get into. He said he doesn't make a living off being a street performer, most people don't. He mostly does it because he just loves to play and street performance gives him an outlet.

I then decided to go out on a limb and ask him about music and social justice. I asked him if he'd ever thought of his street performances and representing or being in any way involved with social justice. He said that he'd never really thought about it. A lot of the people I've talked to haven't. He said that most people don't really notice the street performers. Those who live in Chicago tend to be so used to the sounds of music coming out of the loop that they rarely notice you're there. It's the tourists who tend to stop for a minute. He said children also. They tend to be fascinated by the music he plays but after a while their mothers usher them along. In a way then he said that that could be an issue of social justice. He mentioned how he sees these people sometimes out with clipboards trying to make people aware of their charities and people who need help and donations. He said that even these people get ignored when they reach out to try to talk to you. I told him thanks for taking the time to chat and let him get back to his music. But he'd given me an idea for the next time I get out of Hyde Park.

Another musician that I talked to was playing the guitar as a way of self-promotion. Next to his case, he was selling his CDs. I stopped to talk to him, asking the same questions I had of the saxophone player. He was a bit on the younger side as opposed to the older gentleman I'd spoken to before. When I asked about his music education experience, he said that he grew up playing the violin and switched to guitar when he was in college. When I asked about whether or not he thought his performances had anything to do with social justice, he said that it did. He said that music is a way of bringing communities together and facilitating conversation. He saw his performances, at least in some small part, as a way of doing that. It is the same sort of positive outlook towards music that I myself have always had.